Escape from L.A’s ending is awesome because it sets up the movie we never got to see that I wanted badly. Escape from Earth!
Mad Men really got the cultural impact of that ending and film correctly. It is just so iconic today that it seems banal and commonplace.
The problem is that Escape from N.Y. and Escape from L.A. are in two different genres, the second movie is basically a spoof of the first. It’s pretty much a series of “yeah, right” moments.
Did I just read through a list of the fifty best final scenes in film without any mention of the Dance of Death from The Seventh Seal? wtf?
You’re right, fixed. Amazing oversight on their part.
That list is garbage.
I agree, this is the better Indiana Jones ending shot.
Also I love the ending frames of ESB
It strikes the right tone.
I see what you did there. Cute.
This:
Followed by this:
I guess we’ve never done this as a 3x3 because every single pick would be a spoiler! :)
So instead of best final shots, how about worst first shots?
-Tom
List is broken!
Didn’t have to think about this at all. For me, this is the best by a long shot.
The Warriors, end credits. /thread
Here are mine. I restricted it to shots I could remember, which made it really hard. (And in a few cases I’m not 100% sure the final shot is what I think it is.)
It turns out that for many of my favorite movies, I don’t know the last shot precisely. That might be to the filmmaker’s purpose: I think many directors would rather the audience leave thinking of a final scene or mood or line of dialogue, rather than the particular shot. In Paths of Glory, of course I remember the young German woman singing in the tavern, but is that the final shot? Pretty sure it isn’t. In Ikiru, of course I remember Watanabe on the swing in the snow, but is that the final shot? Almost certainly not. And so forth.
This is in very rough order of preference, getting more sure in the top 10 or so.
50 La Strada
49 Amadeus
48 The Manchurian Candidate
47 The Rules of the Game
46 Z
45 North by Northwest
44 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
43 Rear Window
42 Boogie Nights
41 Notorious
40 Tron
39 The Lavender Hill Mob
38 Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
37 The Tenant
36 Gallipolli
35 Shane
34 The Man Who Would Be King
33 The Last Temptation of Christ
32 Shadows and Fog
31 The Silence of the Lambs
30 Barry Lyndon
29 The Empire Strikes Back
28 The Terminator
27 The Maltese Falcon
26 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
25 Citizen Kane
24 The Conversation
23 Sunset Boulevard
22 Seven Samurai
21 Raiders of the Lost Ark
20 I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang
19 High and Low
18 THX 1138
17 Big Night
16 Being There
15 A Serious Man
14 Casablanca
13 Cabaret
12 The Graduate
11 The Planet of the Apes
10 The Seventh Seal
9 The Godfather
8 The Great Train Robbery (1903)
7 2001: A Space Odyssey
6 The 400 Blows
5 8 1/2
4 The Searchers
3 Vertigo
2 City Lights
1 The Third Man
I know I may be castigated for the ending of this sorta-flop of John Wayne’s, but I love the ending shot (and music) of the Alamo!
(I am still trying to get myself on being better able to share links/pictures here --sorry if I broke a rule).
It may not be the BEST, but it always comes to mind as a (unrealistic perhaps) great final shot.
Fine fine. But watch the whole scene – Santa Anna tips his hat~!